High power dissipation mezzanine card cooling frame

ABSTRACT

Some embodiments are directed to cooling frames for mezzanine cards, mezzanine card assemblies and circuit card assemblies. A recessed cooling frame may be used to dissipate heat generated by components of a mezzanine card. The cooling frame may be directly coupled to a host card or host card cooling frame, thereby reducing the number of interfaces and reducing the thermal resistance of the heat dissipation pathway. The cooling frames of some embodiments may provide more efficient heat dissipation and thereby allow higher performance mezzanine cards to be used. Some embodiments provide a mezzanine card assembly that conforms to the mechanical envelope dimensions of the VITA 20, VITA 42 or VITA 61 specifications.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION

The techniques described herein relate to a cooling frame for amezzanine card for use in connection with a host card. The cooling frameand mezzanine card allow for high power heat dissipation.

Circuit card modules are used in many areas of computing and frequentlyutilize mezzanine cards and cooling frames. Standard bodies, such as theVMEbus International Trade Association (“VITA”) have developed bothelectrical and mechanical specifications to which most manufacturersadhere. Customers often prefer standardized components because itensures compatibility between various products purchased from differentvendors. Accordingly, most manufacturers adhere to the above standardsfor circuit card modules and/or mezzanine cards.

Circuit card modules may comprise printed circuit boards (PCBs) orprinted wiring boards (PWBs), terms that are often used interchangeably.Electronic components, such as integrated circuits and processors, maybe affixed to the boards. Mezzanine cards are PWBs that may be attachedboth mechanically and electrically to a host card. As the processors andintegrated circuits that are affixed to mezzanine cards increase inperformance, there arises a need for efficient, high power dissipationof the heat generated by these components.

Previous heat dissipation solutions transfer heat from the mezzaninecard components to a top cooling frame, then to the mezzanine card PWB,and then finally to the host card frame.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF INVENTION

Some embodiments are directed to a mezzanine card assembly comprising amezzanine card of a non-rectangular shape. The mezzanine card may have aa first mezzanine surface with at least one component mounted theretoand a second mezzanine surface opposing the first mezzanine surface. Themezzanine card assembly may also comprise a cooling frame, wherein jointdimensions of the cooling frame and the mezzanine card together conformto a standard dimensions requirements, for example VITA 20, VITA 42,VITA 61, etc. . . . The at least one component is in direct thermalcontact with the cooling frame, which may be formed from a metallicmaterial. The cooling frame may comprise at least one protrusion with afirst protrusion surface at a first level defined by the secondmezzanine surface and a second protrusion surface opposing the firstprotrusion surface. The PWB may comprise at least one cut-out portionconfigured to receive the at least one protrusion of the cooling frame.In some embodiments, the second protrusion surface is at a second leveldefined by the first mezzanine surface.

In some embodiments, the at least one protrusion is substantiallyrectangular. The at least one protrusion may comprise at least one holefor receiving attachment hardware, the at least one hole configured sothat the attachment hardware mounts the cooling frame to a host cardand/or a host card frame. Some embodiments may use at least one coolingpad comprising a first pad surface in contact with the cooling frame anda second pad surface, opposing the first pad surface, wherein the secondpad surface is in contact with the at least one component.

Some embodiments are directed to a metallic frame for cooling amezzanine card. The metallic frame may comprise a main body that issubstantially rectangular comprising at least a first main body surface,wherein the main body is at a first level. The metallic frame may alsocomprise at least one protrusion at a second level other than the firstlevel, wherein the at least one protrusion comprising at least a firstprotrusion surface. There may also be at least one sidewall connectingthe main body to the at least one protrusion, wherein the at least onesidewall comprises at least a first sidewall surface, wherein the firstsidewall surface is connected to the first main body surface and thefirst protrusion surface. In some embodiments, the first sidewallsurface may be connected substantially perpendicular to the first mainbody surface and the first protrusion surface. The at least oneprotrusion may comprise at least one hole for receiving attachmenthardware, the at least one hole configured so that the attachmenthardware mounts the frame to a host card.

The metallic frame may also comprise a secondary body comprising atleast a first secondary body surface substantially parallel to the firstmain body surface, wherein the secondary body is coupled to the mainbody by at least the at least one protrusion. The at least oneprotrusion may be configured to fit into a cut-out in a printed wiringboard (PWB). A first thickness of the at least one protrusion may beconfigured to be substantially equal to a second thickness the PWB,wherein the first thickness and the second thickness are in thedirection of the at least one sidewall.

Some embodiments are directed to a circuit card assembly comprising ahost card, a mezzanine card and a cooling frame. The mezzanine card maybe substantially parallel to the host card and comprise a firstmezzanine surface with at least one component mounted thereto and asecond mezzanine surface opposing the first mezzanine surface;. Themezzanine card may be non-rectangular. The cooling frame may be incontact with the host card, wherein the cooling frame and the mezzaninecard together have joint dimensions conforming to dimensions of astandard. The standard may be a VITA 20 standard, a VITA 42 standard, aVITA 61 standard or an IEEE standard.

The cooling frame may comprise at least one protrusion comprising afirst protrusion surface at a first level defined by the secondmezzanine surface and a second protrusion surface opposing the firstprotrusion surface. The mezzanine card may comprise at least one cut-outportion configured to receive the at least one protrusion of the coolingframe. The second protrusion surface may be at a second level defined bythe first mezzanine surface. The cooling frame may further comprise amain body and a secondary body connected to the main body by the atleast one protrusion, wherein the secondary body is substantiallyparallel to the main body. The mezzanine board may have at least onecomponent in contact with the main body and at least one additionalcomponent in contact with the secondary body.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings are not intended to be drawn to scale. In thedrawings, each identical or nearly identical component that isillustrated in various figures is represented by a like numeral. Forpurposes of clarity, not every component may be labeled in everydrawing. In the drawings:

FIG. 1A illustrates a first exemplary mezzanine card;

FIG. 1B illustrates a first exemplary cooling frame for the firstexemplary mezzanine card;

FIG. 1C illustrates the first exemplary mezzanine card and firstexemplary cooling frame together as a first mezzanine card assembly;

FIG. 2A illustrates a second exemplary mezzanine card;

FIG. 2B illustrates a second exemplary cooling frame for the secondexemplary mezzanine card;

FIG. 2C illustrates the second exemplary mezzanine card and the secondexemplary cooling frame together as a second mezzanine card assembly;

FIG. 3 illustrates the second exemplary mezzanine card assembly attachedto a host card; and

FIG. 4 illustrates a close up cross-section of the first mezzanine cardassembly.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF INVENTION

The inventors have recognized and appreciated that one of the factorslimiting performance of mezzanine cards and the components thereon isthe ability to dissipate the heat generated during operation. Heat maybe more efficiently transferred away from the components of a mezzaninecard by reducing the number of interfaces between the hot components anda heat sink. Moreover, heat dissipation can be made more efficientthrough the primary usage of lower impedance thermal conductionmaterials, such as metallic interfaces as opposed to standard PWBconstruction. The inventors have recognized and appreciated that moreefficient heat dissipation permits higher operating temperatures formezzanine cards, higher performance, and/or longer lifetime of thecomponents thereon with no other changes to the architecture.

The ability to transfer heat may be increased by reducing the number ofinterfaces heat must traverse. Thermal resistance of a heat pathincreases with the number of interfaces. Moreover, conducting the heatthrough highly conductive materials, such as metal, greatly increasesthe ability to dissipate heat. Accordingly, some embodiments of theinvention are directed to techniques for directly thermally coupling ametallic cooling frame of a mezzanine card to the host card and/or acooling frame associated with the host card, bypassing the need totransfer heat through the relatively low conductivity PWB of themezzanine card. To achieve this direct coupling, some embodimentsreplace a thermal interface area of the PWB with a recessed metallicframe that both top cools the mezzanine card components and dissipatesheat directly to the host card.

There are a variety of standards for circuit card modules. For example,VITA 61,VITA 42 and VITA 20 define mechanical and electricalspecifications for a switched mezzanine card (XMC) and PCI (PeripheralComponent Interface) Mezzanine Card (PMC), respectively. The standardseach define a standoff height and a mechanical envelope to whichmezzanine cards must adhere. A mechanical envelope may be a set ofdimensions to which a mezzanine card assembly must adhere. There aremany off-the-shelf components that are designed to work with cardsabiding by these standards, such as connectors that match the standoffheight. Therefore, some embodiments comprise a mezzanine card andcooling frame that together conform to the mechanical envelope andstandoff height dictated by the VITA standards. A mezzanine card and acooling frame together may be referred to as a mezzanine card assembly.A mezzanine card assembly may also include additional components.Similarly a circuit card assembly may refer to a host card and amezzanine card assembly. A computer card assembly may also includeadditional components, including a cooling frame associated with thehost card.

Embodiments of the invention are not limited to VITA standards. Otherstandard bodies exist for defining circuit card dimensions. For example,some embodiments are based on a IEEE specification of dimensions.

FIG. 1A shows an exemplary mezzanine card 100 illustrative of someembodiments. The mezzanine card 100 may comprise a PWB and one or morecomponents (not shown in FIG. 1A). The components may includeprocessors, integrated circuits or any other suitable electricalcomponent. The mezzanine card 100 has two surfaces, surface 130 is shownin FIG. 1A and there is a second surface opposing surface 130 not shownin FIG. 1A. Components may be mounted to one or both surfaces of themezzanine card 100. The distance between the first surface 130 and thesecond surface determines the thickness of the PWB of the mezzaninecard.

In some embodiments, the mezzanine card 100 is non-rectangular in shape.Any suitable shape may be used. FIG. 1A illustrates an “I-shaped”mezzanine card 100 with a rectangular PWB with two rectangular“cut-outs” 110 and 120 along the long edge of the PWB. The cut-outs 110and 120 are voids in the PWB of the mezzanine card 100. The cut-outs 110and 120 need not be precisely rectangular. For example, the corners ofthe rectangle may be rounded in any suitable way such that cut-outs aresubstantially rectangular. Embodiments are not limited to two cut-outs.For example, some embodiments may use four cut-outs—two along each longside of the PWB. Embodiments are not limited to any size, shape ornumber of cut-outs. The VITA standards define a rectangular envelope towhich the dimensions of mezzanine card assemblies must conform. Whilethe mezzanine card 100 does not adhere to the defined standardmechanical envelope due to the cut-outs 110 and 120, as will be seen inconnection with FIG. 1C below, the mezzanine card 100 together withcooling frame 150 conform to the specified mechanical envelope of aparticular standard.

The standard may also mandate the location and size of at least one hole105 through the mezzanine card 100. Attachment hardware may be placedthrough the hole to attach the mezzanine card 100 to the host card.

FIG. 1B shows an exemplary cooling frame 150 illustrative of someembodiments. The cooling frame 150 may be placed in thermal contact withcomponents of mezzanine board 100 in order to dissipate heat generatedduring the operation of said components. The cooling frame 150 ispreferably made of a material with a high thermal conductivity. Forexample, any metal or metal alloy may be used, such as aluminum orcopper. Alternatively, one or more thermally conductive polymers may beused to dissipate heat. Embodiments are not limited to any particularmaterial. In some embodiments the cooling frame 150 is made from asingle, integral piece of metal.

Cooling frame 150 may be any suitable shape that, when combined with theshape of mezzanine card 100 conforms to the mechanical envelope andstandoff height defined by particular standards. FIG. 1B illustrates acooling frame 150 with a relatively large, single main body 152. Themain body 152 may be placed in thermal contact with components ofmezzanine card 100 in order to dissipate heat therefrom. The main body152 may be substantially rectangular, substantially flat andsubstantially parallel to the surfaces of the mezzanine card 100. Insome embodiments, main body 152 may include cooling pedestals 180-181designed to adjust the specific height of the main body at particularlocations that correspond to a location of a component mounted tomezzanine card 100. Cooling pedestals 180-181 need not be present inembodiments and, if they are, the size and shape are not limited in anyway.

A sidewall 154 may run around the perimeter of main body 152. Thesidewall 154 determines the level at which the main body 152 sitsrelative to the components of mezzanine card 100 and must allow the formfactor of the mezzanine card assembly to fit within the maximum materialcondition in the selected standard. The sidewall 154 may be any suitablethickness. The sidewall thickness must be enough to accommodate avariety of bolt holes that are mandated by the standard. However, as thesidewall 154 is made thicker, there will be less room for components onmezzanine card 100 under main body 152. Accordingly, in someembodiments, the sidewall will be thicker near the bolt holes andthinner where there are no bolt holes.

The sidewall 154 connects main body 152 to protrusions 160 and 170.Protrusions of the cooling frame 150 may be referred to as wings, earsor tabs. Cooling frame 150 may comprise any suitable number ofprotrusions. The number and shape of the protrusions may match thenumber and shapes of the cut-outs of mezzanine card 100. Protrusions 160and 170 comprise a first surface and a second surface opposing the firstsurface. The first and second surface of protrusions 160 and 170 may besubstantially parallel to the surfaces of main body 152. The distancebetween the first and second surface of the protrusions defines thethickness of the protrusions. As will be discussed in connection withFIG. 4 below, in some embodiments the thickness of the protrusions maybe the same as the thickness of the PWB of the mezzanine card.

In some embodiments, protrusions 160 and 170 may comprise at least onehole 162 and 172, respectively. Holes 162 and 172 may receive attachmenthardware, such as screws or bolts. The location and size of the holes162 and 172 may be mandated by, for example, the VITA specification. Anysuitable number of holes may be in each protrusion. For example, FIG. 1Billustrates protrusions 160 and 170 with two holes each.

FIG. 1C illustrates the mezzanine card 100 and cooling frame 150 fittedtogether to form a mezzanine card assembly 101 in accordance with someembodiments of the invention. Protrusions 160 and 170 of cooling frame150 may be fitted into cut-outs 110 and 120 of the mezzanine card 100,respectively. Together, the mezzanine card 100 and the cooling frame 150may conform to the rectangular envelope mandated by the VITA standard.Also, the cooling frame 150 may be designed such that it does notinterfere with the at least one hole 105 required for attachmenthardware, as mandated by the VITA standard.

FIG. 1C also illustrates components 130-131 of mezzanine card 100. Insome embodiments, the components 130-131 may be in direct contact withcooling frame 150, allowing efficient heat dissipation away from thecomponents. In other embodiments, cooling pads (not shown) may be placedbetween the components 130-131 and the cooling frame to facilitatethermal coupling. A cooling pad may comprise a first surface in contactwith one or more of the components 130-131 and a second surface, opposedto the first surface, in contact with the main body 152 of the coolingframe 150. The heat from components 130-131 may travel through the mainbody 152 to protrusions 160 and 170. The protrusions 160 and 170 may bedirectly attached to the host card (not shown) via attachment hardwarethrough holes 162 and 172, respectively. This allows direct flow of heatfrom the cooling frame to the host card without the need for heat todissipate through the PWB of mezzanine card 100.

For illustrative purposes, FIG. 1C also shows additional components 134and 136 that do not dissipate heat through the cooling frame 150. Alsoshown are connectors 140-141, which may be used to electrically couplethe mezzanine card 100 to the associated host card. Mezzanine card 100may comprise additional components, either under main body 152 or notunder the main body 152, which are not shown for purposed of clarity.

FIG. 2A illustrates a second mezzanine card 200 according to someembodiments of the invention. Many aspects of mezzanine card 200 may besimilar to mezzanine card 100. For example, mezzanine card 200 has afirst surface 230, a second surface opposed to the first surface, andmezzanine card 200 is non-rectangular due to two cut-outs 210 and 220.Cut-outs 210 and 220 are larger than cut-outs 110 and 120 of mezzaninecard 100. This may provide additional direct thermal coupling of themezzanine card to the host card. Also, as illustrated in FIG. 2B, itallows the cooling frame 250 to have additional areas to whichcomponents of the mezzanine card may dissipate heat.

The standard may mandate the location and size of at least one hole 205through the mezzanine card 200. Attachment hardware may be placedthrough the hole to attach the mezzanine card 200 to the host card.

FIG. 2B shows a second exemplary cooling frame 250 illustrative of someembodiments. There are many similarities between cooling frame 250 andcooling from 150. For example, cooling frame 250 may have a main body252, a sidewall 254, cooling pedestals 280-281, protrusions 260 and 270,and holes 262 and 272. Certain aspects of these components are the sameas the corresponding components of cooling from 150 and are notrepeated.

Protrusions 260 and 270 are longer than protrusions 160 and 170. Thisadditional surface area may provide additional direct thermal contact tothe host card. The longer protrusions 260 and 270 allow for coolingframe 250 to have an a secondary body 253, which may be smaller thanmain body 252. The secondary body 253 may be attached to the main body252 by the protrusions 260 and 270. The secondary body 253 may besubstantially parallel to main body 252 and at the same height, whereinthe height of each of the bodies may be defined as the distance from thePWB of the mezzanine card 200 to one of the surfaces of the body. Insome embodiments, the height of the secondary body 253 may be differentfrom the height of main body 252. There may be a gap between the mainbody 252 and the secondary body 253. This gap may be any size, but asdiscussed below in connection with FIG. 2C, it must be large enough toaccommodate the at least one hole 205 in mezzanine card 200 mandated bythe VITA standard.

FIG. 2C illustrates the mezzanine card 200 and the cooling frame 250fitted together to form a mezzanine card assembly 201 in accordance withsome embodiments of the invention. Protrusions 260 and 270 of coolingframe 250 may be fitted into cut-outs 210 and 220 of the mezzanine card200, respectively. Together, the mezzanine card 200 and the coolingframe 250 may conform to the rectangular mechanical envelope mandated bythe VITA standard.

FIG. 2C also illustrates components 230-231 of mezzanine card 200. Insome embodiments, the components 230-231 may be in direct contact withcooling frame 250, allowing efficient heat dissipation away from thecomponents. In other embodiments, cooling pads (not shown) may be placedbetween the components 230-231 and the cooling frame to facilitatethermal coupling. The heat from components 230-231 may travel throughthe main body 252 to protrusions 260 and 270. The protrusions 260 and270 may be directly attached to the host card (not shown) via attachmenthardware through holes 262 and 272, respectively. This allows directflow of heat from the cooling frame to the host card without the needfor heat to dissipate through the PWB of mezzanine card 200.

Not shown in FIG. 2C are additional components that may be on thesurface of mezzanine card 200 under the secondary body 253. Just ascomponents 230-231 may be in contact with main body 252, additionalcomponents may be in contact with secondary body 253. The heat createdby the additional components is carried away from the components by thesecondary body 253 and transferred to the host card via protrusions 260and 270. The secondary body 253 may be separated from main body 253 toallow a gap between the bodies to accommodate the at least one hole 205required by the VITA specification.

For illustrative purposes, FIG. 2C also shows additional components 234and 236 that do not dissipate heat through the cooling frame 150. Alsoshown are connectors 240-241, which may be used to electrically couplethe mezzanine card 200 to the associated host card. Mezzanine card 200may comprise additional components, either under main body 252 or notunder the main body 252, which are not shown for purposed of clarity.

FIG. 3 illustrates a circuit card assembly 300 comprising the mezzaninecard 200, cooling frame 250 (only protrusions 260 and 270 are visible inthe drawing), host card 310, and host card cooling frame 320. In someembodiments, the size of the mezzanine card assembly 201 may be mandatedby a mechanical envelope defined in a VITA specification. The mezzaninecard assembly 201 comprises the mezzanine card 200 and the cooling frame250. The cooling frame 250 may be mounted directly to the host card 310and/or the host card cooling frame 320 using attachment hardware (notshown).

The host card 310 may be one of a plurality of host cards that areinterconnected using a backplane of a larger computing device. The hostcard 310 may dissipate heat in any suitable way. For example, inmilitary applications, the host card may be conduction cooled by beingthermally coupled to the host card cooling frame 320. The host cardcooling frame 320 may ultimately be coupled to a larger metal chassisthat dissipates the heat transferred from the mezzanine card 200 and thehost card 310. Conduction cooling may be preferred in militaryapplications, such as military avionics, where the device must operatein harsh environments and air-flow over the electronic components mustbe prevented. Other embodiments may use air flow cooling of thecomponents. Embodiments are not limited to a particular method of heatdissipation.

Host card cooling frame 320 may be considered part of host card 310. Thecooling frame 320 not only provides a means for dissipating heatgenerated by the host card, but it also provides structure and supportto host card 310. Similarly the cooling frames 150 and 250 associatedwith mezzanine cards 100 and 200, respectively, also provide support andstructure to the mezzanine cards.

FIG. 4 illustrates a close-up cross-section of mezzanine card assembly101, which comprises mezzanine card 100 and cooling frame 150. Component130 is mounted to mezzanine card 100 and is in direct thermal contactwith the main body 152 of cooling frame 150. Protrusion 160 may have athickness defined by the level 450 of a first surface and level 451 of asecond surface. In some embodiments, this thickness is the samethickness as sidewall 154 and main body 152. However, the thickness maybe thicker or thinner based on factors such as manufacturability andconduction performance. In some embodiments, the PWB of mezzanine card100 has the same thickness defined by levels 451 and 450. Surface 130 ofthe mezzanine card's PWB may be at the same level 450 as the firstsurface of protrusion 160. By being at the same level 450, the coolingframe 150 together with the mezzanine card 100 adhere to the VITAspecification mechanical envelope dimensions.

Attachment hardware 410 may be used to mount the cooling frame 150 viaprotrusion 160 to the host card and/or the host card's cooling frame.Any suitable attachment hardware 410 may be used. For example,attachment hardware 410 may be a bolt or a screw.

Embodiments of the invention have been described with reference to theVITA standard, particularly the VITA 20, VITA 42 and VITA 61specifications. Embodiments of the invention are not so limited and anycircuit card module standard may be used. For example, a IEEE standardmay be used.

This invention is not limited in its application to the details ofconstruction and the arrangement of components set forth in theforegoing description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention iscapable of other embodiments and of being practiced or of being carriedout in various ways. Also, the phraseology and terminology used hereinis for the purpose of description and should not be regarded aslimiting. The use of “including,” “comprising,” or “having,”“containing,” “involving,” and variations thereof herein, is meant toencompass the items listed thereafter and equivalents thereof as well asadditional items.

Various aspects of the present invention may be used alone, incombination, or in a variety of arrangements not specifically discussedin the embodiments described in the foregoing and is therefore notlimited in its application to the details and arrangement of componentsset forth in the foregoing description or illustrated in the drawings.For example, aspects described in one embodiment may be combined in anymanner with aspects described in other embodiments.

Also, the invention may be embodied as a method, of which at least oneexample has been provided. The acts performed as part of the method maybe ordered in any suitable way. Accordingly, embodiments may beconstructed in which acts are performed in an order different thanillustrated, which may include performing some acts simultaneously, eventhough shown as sequential acts in illustrative embodiments.

Use of ordinal terms such as “first,” “second,” “third,” etc., in theclaims to modify a claim element does not by itself connote anypriority, precedence, or order of one claim element over another or thetemporal order in which acts of a method are performed, but are usedmerely as labels to distinguish one claim element having a certain namefrom another element having a same name (but for use of the ordinalterm) to distinguish the claim elements.

Having thus described several aspects of at least one embodiment of thisinvention, it is to be appreciated various alterations, modifications,and improvements will readily occur to those skilled in the art. Suchalterations, modifications, and improvements are intended to be part ofthis disclosure, and are intended to be within the spirit and scope ofthe invention. Accordingly, the foregoing description and drawings areby way of example only.

What is claimed is:
 1. A mezzanine card assembly comprising: a mezzaninecard of a non-rectangular shape, the mezzanine card comprising: a firstmezzanine surface with at least one component mounted thereto; and asecond mezzanine surface opposing the first mezzanine surface; and acooling frame, wherein joint dimensions of the cooling frame and themezzanine card together conform to a standard dimensions requirements.2. The mezzanine card of claim 1, wherein: the cooling frame comprisesat least one protrusion comprising: a first protrusion surface at afirst level defined by the second mezzanine surface; and a secondprotrusion surface opposing the first protrusion surface; and themezzanine card comprises at least one cut-out portion configured toreceive the at least one protrusion of the cooling frame.
 3. Themezzanine card of claim 2, wherein the second protrusion surface is at asecond level defined by the first mezzanine surface.
 4. The mezzaninecard of claim 2, wherein the at least one protrusion is substantiallyrectangular.
 5. The mezzanine card of claim 2, wherein the at least oneprotrusion comprises at least one hole for receiving attachmenthardware, the at least one hole configured so that the attachmenthardware mounts the cooling frame to a host card and/or a host cardframe.
 6. The mezzanine card of claim 1, wherein the standard is a VITAstandard.
 7. The mezzanine card of claim 1, wherein the at least onecomponent is in direct thermal contact with the cooling frame.
 8. Themezzanine card of claim 1, further comprising: at least one cooling padcomprising: a first pad surface in contact with the cooling frame; and asecond pad surface, opposing the first pad surface, wherein the secondpad surface is in contact with the at least one component.
 9. Themezzanine card of claim 1, wherein the cooling frame is formed from ametallic material.
 10. A frame for cooling a mezzanine card, themetallic frame comprising: a main body comprising at least a first mainbody surface, wherein the main body is at a first level; at least oneprotrusion at a second level other than the first level, wherein the atleast one protrusion comprising at least a first protrusion surface; andat least one sidewall connecting the main body to the at least oneprotrusion, wherein the at least one sidewall comprises at least a firstsidewall surface, wherein the at least one protrusion comprises at leastone hole for receiving attachment hardware, the at least one holeconfigured so that the attachment hardware mounts the frame to a hostcard.
 11. The metallic frame of claim 10, further comprising: asecondary body comprising at least a first secondary body surfacesubstantially parallel to the first main body surface, wherein thesecondary body is coupled to the main body by at least the at least oneprotrusion.
 12. The metallic frame of claim 10, wherein the at least oneprotrusion is configured to fit into a cut-out in a printed wiring board(PWB).
 13. The metallic frame of claim 12, wherein a first thickness ofthe at least one protrusion is configured to be substantially equal to asecond thickness of the PWB, wherein the first thickness and the secondthickness are in the direction of the at least one sidewall.
 14. Acircuit card assembly comprising: a host card; a mezzanine card of anon-rectangular shape, wherein the mezzanine card is mountedsubstantially parallel to the host card, the mezzanine card comprising:a first mezzanine surface with at least one component mounted thereto;and a second mezzanine surface opposing the first mezzanine surface; anda cooling frame in contact with the host card, wherein the cooling frameand the mezzanine card together have joint dimensions conforming todimensions of a standard.
 15. The circuit card assembly of claim 14,wherein: the cooling frame comprises at least one protrusion comprising:a first protrusion surface at a first level defined by the secondmezzanine surface; and a second protrusion surface opposing the firstprotrusion surface; and the mezzanine card comprises at least onecut-out portion configured to receive the at least one protrusion of thecooling frame.
 16. The circuit card assembly of claim 15, wherein thesecond protrusion surface is at a second level defined by the firstmezzanine surface.
 17. The circuit card assembly of claim 15, whereinthe at least one protrusion is substantially rectangular.
 18. Thecircuit card assembly of claim 14, wherein the standard is a VITAstandard.
 19. The circuit card assembly of claim 15, wherein the coolingframe further comprises: a main body; and a secondary body connected tothe main body by the at least one protrusion, wherein the secondary bodyis substantially parallel to the main body.
 20. The circuit cardassembly of claim 1, wherein: the at least one component is a pluralityof components; the main body is in contact with a first component of theplurality of components; and the secondary body is in contact with asecond component of the plurality of components.